Yuan Ming clenched his arm, and his muscles instantly swelled. His fist collided with one of the human-faced spider's legs, emitting a muffled "bang."
The spider leg, which seemed as slender as a stick, was surprisingly resilient. Despite the heavy punch, it did not break but instead quickly retracted inward.
The grotesque human face of the human-faced spider also twisted, displaying an extremely painful expression.
Its other legs pierced into the cave, brushing past Yuan Ming's side, and its entire body, like a giant claw, clamped down on Yuan Ming.
Before Yuan Ming could react, its body pressed down on him, the painful expression on its face disappearing, replaced by a gruesomely wide-grinning smile.
The laughing face flipped up as if it moved to the top of its head.
Below it, a gaping maw opened wide, revealing two rows of sharp, fine teeth and a long, slender tongue that licked towards Yuan Ming's cheek.
Yuan Ming watched as the somewhat sticky tongue touched his face; even through the beast skin fur, he felt a burning pain as though it were corroding him.
His arms, like ape limbs, flexed on either side with the long sword, his muscles bulging. All his strength erupted in an attempt to pry open the clasp of the human-faced spider and escape.
The human-faced spider, sensing his intentions, let out a shrill shriek. Its legs contracted powerfully, trapping Yuan Ming even more tightly. Without hesitation, its gaping mouth bit down towards his head.
Yuan Ming twisted his head to the side, and his shoulder was caught by the human-faced spider's dense teeth, causing blood to instantly splatter.
Following that, a strong suction emanated from the wound, and Yuan Ming felt all his blood rush towards the bite, being sucked away by the spider.
The intense pain further enraged Yuan Ming, his eyes gleaming red. With a low growl, he bit down on the head of the human-faced spider.
The human-faced spider had not anticipated Yuan Ming's ferocity and immediately released him, darting back to evade.
Seizing the opportunity, Yuan Ming didn't hesitate. His figure surged, and he leaped out of the cave, jumping straight down to the ground ten meters below.
The human-faced spider followed right after him.
The moment Yuan Ming landed, he immediately discarded the Ancient Bronze Sword, pressed one palm against the ground, and formed a hand seal with the other, shouting,
"Arise!"
The Wood Stabbing Technique activated once more, and a sharp wooden thorn thrust out from the ground towards the falling human-faced spider.
The human-faced spider quickly pulled its eight legs together, raising its body high and avoiding the wooden thorn, which could not reach its body, and the delicate legs gracefully dodged the thrust without being affected at all.
Yuan Ming cursed under his breath, glanced ahead, and saw Ba Yin engaged in combat with the Single-horned Wolf Spider, whose leg had been severed and was now at a disadvantage.
The only remaining Green Wolf Beast Slave was trying to support from the side, moving forward to help, but with insufficient strength and fear of getting too close, it could only move around the battling duo in a disorganized manner.
"Gang Leader Ba Yin, he... he's come back," the Green Wolf Beast Slave shouted loudly upon seeing Yuan Ming jumping down from the nearby cliff and running towards them.
Ba Yin swatted the Single-horned Wolf Spider with a claw, sparing a moment to glance at Yuan Ming. His lips twitched with fury.
But then, seeing the massive figure chasing after Yuan Ming, his expression changed dramatically, and he exclaimed, "A human-faced ghost spider, how did this guy end up bringing this monstrosity here?"
As he yelled out the name of the beast, Ba Yin couldn't help but curse Yuan Ming's ancestors in his heart.
Just dealing with one Single-horned Wolf Spider was troublesome enough; not to mention this guy had brought along a human-faced ghost spider, both representing the pinnacle of First Level Lower Stage Fierce Beasts. It was like he wanted everyone to go down together.
In an instant, the thought of retreating crossed his mind, for nothing was more important than his own life.
However, barely distracted, the remaining leg of the Single-horned Wolf Spider lunged again, and as Ba Yin instinctively blocked, it swiftly retracted and then slashed upwards.
Caught off-guard, Ba Yin's chest was sliced open, blood gushing forth.
He grunted, stepping back while pressing on his chest. The muscles there contracted, quickly stemming the bleeding, but the torn flesh turned blue-purple, obviously poisoned.
The Single-horned Wolf Spider pressed forward aggressively.
Watching the relentless advance of the Single-horned Wolf Spider and glimpsing Yuan Ming running towards him with the human-faced ghost spider, Ba Yin suddenly crouched, hugging the ground to dodge another thrust.
Then, his legs fiercely propelled him to the side, bursting out.
The Green Wolf Beast Slave, facing Ba Yin charging towards him, hadn't even reacted when he was grabbed by the long mane on his neck.
"Gang Leader, what are you—"
He didn't finish his sentence before being hoisted off the ground by a tremendous force.
Ba Yin looked at him, said nothing, stamped his feet on the ground, suddenly exerted force with both arms, twisted his waist, and swung his arms around to throw him hard towards the back.
The Green Wolf Beast Slave struggled in panic, but since he was already midair with no leverage, he couldn't control himself and could only watch helplessly as his body smashed towards the Single-horned Wolf Spider coming up from behind.
Seeing the Green Wolf Beast Slave coming straight at it, the Single-horned Wolf Spider thrust out a spider leg and pierced his body, but was also knocked back by the powerful inertia and rolled backward.
Yuan Ming had also caught up by this time, seeing this scene, he quickly dodged to the side, running past the Single-horned Wolf Spider.
"What a ruthless guy, so harsh even on his own," he muttered, turning his head to see the human-faced spider still persistently chasing him and quickly sped up his pace.
The speed of Yuan Ming in his White Ape form was limited on the ground, and considering the stride speed of the human-faced spider, it was only a matter of time before it caught up with him.
As he was pondering what to do, he suddenly discovered in surprise that Ba Yin, who was also fleeing, was even slower than him, which instantly cheered him up.
He gritted his teeth, held the bronze sword in his mouth, and freed his arms to chase after Ba Yin aggressively.
At this moment, Ba Yin was gasping for air, feeling numbness in the wound on his chest and unbearable pain all over his body. He was not known for his speed and it was even worse now that he could not run at full speed.
Normally, the poison of the Single-horned Wolf Spider would merely require him to maintain his Honey Badger Beast Slave state and sleep it off to easily neutralize it, but now it was a major nuisance.
As he was fretting, a sudden rush of footsteps came from behind.
He turned back in panic to see Yuan Ming, with a bronze longsword in his mouth, already near him.
Before he could react, Yuan Ming had already dashed to his side, grabbed the bronze longsword from his mouth, and swung a horizontal slash at him.
Ba Yin quickly dodged, and angrily said, "Are you trying to kill me?"
Yuan Ming didn't respond, but every few steps, he would dart over and strike with his sword. Although he couldn't injure Ba Yin, he also prevented him from running at full speed.
Seeing the human-faced spider was getting closer and the distance between them was just three or four yards, Yuan Ming finally stopped harassing Ba Yin and left him only the sight of his back as he sprinted away.
Ba Yin was furious but helpless; if possible, he wished he could tear Yuan Ming apart immediately, but any delay would allow the human-faced spider to catch up, and with his speed, he would no longer be able to escape.
He let out a roar, channeled his Dan Tian Power into his legs, forcibly dispelling the numbness, and started running with all his might again, trying to widen the gap between him and the human-faced spider.
This surge consumed a lot of Mana, but the effect was significant, immediately increasing the distance between them to seven or eight yards.
But before he could catch his breath, he suddenly saw that, ahead of him, Yuan Ming had crouched down. A faint yellow glow surfaced on his palm, which he pressed against the ground, making Ba Yin sense danger.
The strong alert made him involuntarily slow down.
Just as he slowed down, the ground in front of him suddenly broke apart with a "crack", and a green, sharp Wooden Thorn abruptly pierced up, threading through the gaps in his claws.
If he hadn't controlled his speed and was a little faster, this Wooden Thorn might have pierced right through his foot.
Even though he wasn't directly injured, Ba Yin was still tripped by the sudden emergence of the Wooden Thorn. He lost his balance and plunged forward.
The moment before he hit the ground, right below his face, the ground "crack" again split open.
Another sharp Wooden Thorn suddenly pierced up, aiming straight for his right eye.
At the critical moment, Ba Yin, who had been about to brace himself with his palms, fiercely swatted at the Wooden Thorn.
With a "bang", the sharp Wooden Thorn was shattered into fragments.
As Ba Yin fell urgently, lacking a hand to support him, he couldn't maintain his balance and crashed face-first into the ground.
This trip and fall slowed him down so much that by the time he got back on his feet, the human-faced spider had already caught up, and the distance between them was barely a yard.
"Gang Leader Ba Yin, I'm not sticking around to entertain you anymore, enjoy yourself!"
From about five or six yards ahead, Yuan Ming, seeing this scene, finally felt a bit relieved and immediately stood up to sprint forward.
Having already expended a lot of Mana and used the Wood Stabbing Technique twice in succession, he was somewhat exhausted and couldn't guarantee his safety if he stayed to fight any longer.
But just as he had run ten yards or so, Yuan Ming suddenly heard a furious roar from behind.
He paused briefly and hastily looked back, only to see that the human-faced spider had already engaged Ba Yin, and the two were fighting again.
Yuan Ming watched for a moment, slightly hesitated, then ran a few more yards towards the entrance of the valley, found a large boulder to hide behind, crouched there, and peered towards where Ba Yin and the human-faced spider were.